I got into Sunless Sea after playing the web-game Echo Bazaar (now called Fallen London), and was instantly excited. That excitement quickly wore off. This game is so much worse than Echo Bazaar, so much less interesting. Echo Bazaar is a text-based game that rewards reading and story-based adventure where you unlock elements of the plot bit by bit as you save up treasure and rewards to gradually afford bigger and better storylines, and you could die (and dying was its own adventure) but you'd as Fallen London was in a state of undeath, your mangled body would always make its way back home where your rat butlers, adopted orphans and thieving mistresses awaited you. It was a game of debauchery and decadence, where sex with all manner of humans (and humanoids) was just dessert after a night of raucous drinking and revelry. It was a game of footpads, wandering duelists, tiger-tamers, adventurers and brawlers who wouldn't hesitate to gut you like a fish and still expect to be gutted in return. It was a game of secrets and mysteries, where love stories were worth more than gold, where Hell was just around the corner, where the signs and graffiti could open your mind or break it. It was a game of pickpockets, and thieves, where shadows could be safer than the light of the undergloom, but not that safe. Not in Fallen London. The Sunless Sea takes place in the most boring and eventless part of Fallen London, travelling on your boat, the rewards are even cheaper, and everything you worked for could be lost if you died. The only reason I give this 2 stars instead of 1 is because the theme and atmosphere was the same macabre, Lovecraftian-meets-Victorian with just a hint of steampunk. Just save your money and go play Fallen London instead.
